Moistening attachment for type-writer ribbons.



LE ROY B. HUDDLESTON.

TvloTsTENlNG ATTACHMENT FOR TYPE WRITER RTBBONS.

APPLICATIONl FILED OCT. 23. 1918.

Patented Mar. 25, 1919.

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LE ROY B. HUDDLESTON, OF LAKEWOOD, OHIO, ASSIG-NOR TO THE RIBBON LIFECOMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

y Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 25, 1919.

Application led October 23, 1918. Serial No. 259,389.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, LE ROY B. HUDDLE- s'roN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing Avices for the same purpose have been at Lakewood, inthe county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Moistening Attachments for Type-Writer Ribbons,of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to an attachment for typewriters designed toprovide' improved means for moistening or renewing the typewriter ribbonwhile it is in use. De-

roposed as for example in the patent to Phldlan and MacAlpine No.1,251,691. The present invention is an improved device for supplying themoistening fluid to the ribbon. Means are provided for throwing thedevice into or out of action when desired, means are also provided toprevent the binding and curling of the typewriter ribbon as it passesacross the roller from which it receives its moistening substance, andto prevent the Y flooding of typewriter ribbon with oil. The

device has certain other advantages of construction and operation aswill more fully appear from the following description.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a perspectiveview of thedevice with the cover removed.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a similar section with the wick in different position. y A

Referring speciically to the drawings, I provide a casing consisting ofa curved shell 6, a bottom 7 and a cover 8. These parts may be made ofsheet metal or the like, and the bottom is provided at its front endwith a pair of upwardly extending fingers 9 which form guides for theribbon- 10 which is threaded through behind said fingers and partlyaround the roller 11 which turns on a pivot 12 on the bottom plate.Referring again to thengers 9 it will be noted that the inner faces ofsaid fingers are curved thereby insuring a free movement of the ribbon10 and eliminating all binding and curling of the ribbonas it is fedacross the roller 11, another advantage of having the. faces of thefingers 9 .curved is that there are no sharp edges with which the ribboncomes in contact and consequently there is no danger of scraping lint orother substance from the ribbon and depositing the same into the device.

The roller 11 may be made of metal and acts to supply liquid to the faceof the ribbon by contact therewith. 13 is' a block or plug of felt orsimilar absorbent material which is Saturated with the water or otherliquid to be supplied to the ribbon. This plug tits within the rear partof the bot-tom of the casing. If for any reason an excess amount ofliquid should be supplied to the block or plug 13, the same will bedrained l olf at the lower end of the lingers 9 without saturating orflooding the ribbon 10.

14 is a wick of felt or similar material the' inner end of which isconfined, as indicated at 15, between the plug 13 and the side wall ofthe casing, and the outer end of which eX- tends across the stud 17 toContact at 17 with he roller 11. The liquid will be conducted bycapillary attraction from the porous plug 13 through the wick 14 to theroller 11, and the surface of the latter will thereby be moistened.

To throw the wick out of contact with the roller, I provide a. smalllever or linger piece 17a which is pivoted on the stud 16 and has anupwardly projecting lfinger 18 which bears against the side of the wick14 near the free or outer end thereof. rllhe outer end of the lever 17 aworks through a slot 20 in the wall of the casing, and by pushingthisend inwardly or gto the right in Fig. 3, the finger 18 presses againstthe free end of the wick 14 and swings the same out of contact with 'theroller 11, as shown in Fig. 4. By swinging the lever 17a in the lotherdirection the wick 14 springs back to its original contacting position,as shown in Fig. 3. The cover 8 is conveniently held on the casing by ascrew tapped into the end of the stud 16.

As the ribbon is dra-Wn through the device the moisture supplied to theroller 11 is applied to the face of the ribbonv which is therebymoistened or renewed, but by operation of the linger lever 17 a as abovedescribed, the wick is thrown out of contact with the roller and theaction is stopped.

The device may be used on a typewriter or any other machine employing aribbon and may be mountedin any suita le way on the machine to permitthe ribbon to be passed through the same.

I claim:

1. A ribbon moistening attachment comprising a box, a roller thereinover which the ribbon passes, means to supply moisture to the surface ofthe roller including a Wick7 and a device for moving the Wick into orout of contact with the roller.

2. A ribbon moistening attachment comprising a box, a roller thereinover which the ribbon passes, a Wick provided with a iuid supply andnormally resting in contact with the roller, and means engaging the Wickto move the same out of contact with the roller.

3. A ribbon moistening attachment comprising a casing, a plug of porousmaterial therein, a relier over Which the ribbon passes7 and a wickextending from the plug to contact with the roller, to conduct moisturefrom the former to the latter.

passes, a Wick' extending from tlhe plug to Contact with the roller, toconduct moisture from the former to the latter, and a finger leve-rengaging the Wick and movable to swing `the same out of Contact with theroller.

5. A ribbon moistening attachment comprising a casing, a roller therein,means to supply moisture to the roller, and a pair of fixed curved guidefingers on the casing, projecting at opposite sides of the roller, the

ribbon passing between said fingers and theV rolle-r and said fingersacting to scrape excess moisture from the ribbon.

In testimony `whereof I do aiix my signa- G. W. Rosnxenue.

